Closer to Love

Yesterday morning, I was riding with my friend, Michael to have some breakfast with a few other people. As much as I love having fellowship, and as much as I will brag on Roanoke for having one of the closest families in Christ that I know of, none of that is what I want to talk about.

What I am actually here for tonight, is to point something out that I know I am guilty of, and that many other people are. I know what I will say is kind of an unusual way to look at it, and that it's not always just that easy, but  it's still something I would love to experience again.

Michael and I were listening to Star Country, one of my favorite radio stations, and there was a song that came on. I thought it was a completely different song, but then I heard Michael say "Man, this song is depressing", or something like that. At that point two things happened in my head, 1: I hoped he would not change the station, cause I was curious, and 2: why it was depressing.

So the words come up and the first line goes "The young girls parents never took her to church, never spoke of His Name, never read her His word." At that point I figured it was going to be a song that was all about Christ, and in fact it turned out to be much more.

The song was a story about how a little girl whose parents never once mentioned the name of Christ to this little girl eventually got to a point where the dad was in a drunken rage and killed the girl's mom, and then shot himself.

This next part is the main reason I am here right now.

Towards the end of the song, there is a line that says "I know that man up there on that cross. I don't know His name, but I know He got off. Cause he was there in, my old house, and He held me close to His side. As I hid there, behind our couch, the night that my parents died."

I got to that part, and of course I got to thinking about how this little girl, who had never been told a word about Jesus, never had the Bible to read, or even listen to. Never been told a thing about the Lord, could believe that Jesus was there when her parents died, just from the sole fact that she was staring at a picture of Him at Sunday School. I was amazed.

Then of course I got to thinking about my own life. Why couldn't I still believe that Jesus is THAT evident when I need Him. This little girl had never known a lick of Him, and knew it the second she saw the picture that it was Him, and then openly told people about the fact that He was holding her, just like He does for each and every one of us. As compared to me, someone who basically grew up knowing the overall message of the gospel, and hearing the "Jesus died for your sins" thing. Even before I was a believer, I knew more about Christ than that girl had ever dreamed about, but yet it's easier for her to believe the very first time she sees Him, than it is for me on the thousandth time. I don't think that makes a lot of sense.

I know that it isn't always that evident. Jesus doesn't literally, flesh, blood, and all that jazz show up and hold us. I believe that He is always there though. I last experienced this over summer, when I was worried about the place that I was going to live and where I was going to school. One day, I was just sitting there, becoming mildly-depressed and on the verge of just giving up everything that my life had been about and just going through life like I had before I even met Christ the first time. Then I literally saw Him, sitting with me. He just sat there, comforting me, even though there was nothing I could do about what was going to happen. My fate was in other people's hands. Or so I thought. My fate has been, and always will be in His hands, but that's a whole 'nother story altogether.


I wish I could experience this kind of thing all the time. I never literally see Him in what seem to be my "down times" I have to know that I do not live a life by sight. I live my life by faith, and those times when He literally reveals Himself to you are the times that I wish I could have a lot more. I'm not saying I want my life to be harder, but I do want to have so much Christ welling up inside of me, that He is evident not only to me, but to everyone I talk to.


Heck, if a little girl, who was never given the chance to know who Jesus is by her parents can believe like that, why can't I? God gave this ability to each and every one of us. I want to know, that no matter if I'm happy, sad, angry, or scared, that the Lord is sitting there with me, comforting me, telling me He loves me, and that nothing bad will happen. At least nothing that He can't handle. After all, He is God. He already knows what is going to happen to me, so why should I worry about what is going on? He is a timeless God, and what has yet to happen to us, has already gone through for Him. He knows the outcome, so I should just continue to look to Him, and as John 15 says, remain in the word, and in His love.



I hope this motivates you to, as Lecrae says "Go hard for the Lord". Chase after Him with all that you have, because nothing bad that can happen to you is too much for Him to handle!


I hope you get to encounter Christ in this way as well. There is nothing more exciting than to literally see the Creator sitting next to you. It is an amazing feeling.


I love you guys!
TJ